


I get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter

by taralkariel



Category: Black Widow (Comics), Captain America - All Media Types, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: BuckyNat Secret Santa, Cats, F/M, Post-Black Widow Hunt, could fit in with winter soldier 2018, kisses in the snow, post-black widow no more secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 04:43:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17338811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taralkariel/pseuds/taralkariel
Summary: Natasha Romanoff is out in the middle of nowhere to meet a contact in the woods.  When that contact turns out to be a certain soldier, she has to reconsider how she wants this to go.  Featuring Liho and Alpine shenanigans.





	I get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bookworm213](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookworm213/gifts).



Natasha Romanoff hissed in annoyance as she trudged through snow up to her knees.  The wide space between the trees was the only indication that she was still on the road.  How had she been talked into this?  Couldn’t this have waited until spring?  Or couldn’t she have driven a plow instead of a car?  She’d had to leave the car behind nearly a mile back.  It had gotten stuck close enough to her destination that she had decided not to give up and turn around.  A trek through the snow was hardly something that could deter the Black Widow, after all.

Besides, what would Sharon say?  She’d never live it down if she went back to say sorry, couldn’t make it to the contact.  There was snow!  That would be ridiculous – she was Russian.  And she owed Sharon a favor or two.  So, here she was, wandering through the woods in the middle of nowhere, grateful for her boots and wishing for a thicker coat.  Not that she hadn’t known what she was getting into, but she had expected the road to have been plowed sometime in the last decade.

Up ahead, she could see a cabin.  It looked homey enough, though small, likely only a room or two.  Easy to heat, with a large woodpile stacked against its eastern side.  Hopefully Sharon’s contact would be home and she would swiftly be on her way back to the car.  There were ominous clouds gathering that it would be prudent not to be caught under.  She shifted the bag on her shoulder, eliciting an upset meow from Liho.

Liho was not her cat.  Liho was a stray.  How the creature had ended up in her bag, and how she had avoided detection until this morning, was a mystery.  The cat had never shown an interest in going with her before.  “You should have stayed at home,” Natasha grumbled to the bright green eyes that peered reproachfully out at her.  “I didn’t invite you to come.  Also, you’re heavy.  Keep complaining and you’ll find yourself walking.”

The cat blinked at her slowly then turned away to settle again into the bag.  Natasha continued muttering to the cat and to herself about the benefits of snowplows and the foolishness of leaving one’s house in this weather. Finally, she reached the path up to the cabin, which had been shoveled sometime recently.  It was nice to be able to move easily again and she paused to catch her breath at the door, setting down the bag with Liho in it.  Then she knocked.

There was the sound of movement inside and she surveyed her surroundings while she waited.  If Sharon’s contact was less than friendly, getting away from here in a hurry was not going to be an option.  She supposed she had better be ready to fight her way out, then.  Taking mental stock of her weaponry, she considered how best to deploy them.

The door opened and all her thoughts seemed to empty out of her head.  “James,” she breathed.

Framed in light from the fire within, the Winter Soldier, James, stared at her, looking just as shocked as she was.  “Natalia,” he replied softly.  “What… What are you doing here?”

He did not ask how she found him.  Obviously he had not gotten himself to such a remote spot if he wished to be located.  The fact that Sharon knew his location was likely from Steve.  Though Natasha remembered distantly that Sharon and James had been known to work together.  From time to time.  One of his known associates in his file, maybe.  She wondered who her known associates were and if he was considered one of them.

“Sharon sent me.  Said you had information for her.”  Talking to contacts was easy.  She knew what to say, even if she felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.

He nodded slowly, glancing past her.  “Please come in,” he said haltingly, moving out of her way.

Acquiescing, it occurred to her that she was usually a little more cautious before entering the homes of her contacts.  There were few she trusted enough to do so.  Was he one of them?  Maybe.  Maybe he had been, once.  Now, she wasn’t sure.  She couldn’t remember, though he clearly did.  He wouldn’t hurt her, that was certain, whatever else might happen.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked conversationally as she surveyed the small space.  It was tidy but impersonal, with little to indicate it was more than a place to sleep.  As predicted, there were only two rooms: a living space with kitchenette, fireplace, and comfortable seating as well as a bedroom, the door to which was slightly ajar.  She tried not to look too curiously at the latter.

“I was gathering intel and needed a place to lay low,” he explained, walking over the kitchenette.  “Would you like some tea or coffee?  To… to warm you up?”

He was uncomfortable, looking intently at the stove as though it held the answers to the universe.  A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.  She could remember him telling her to stay warm.  He’d wanted to tell her more, then, but she hadn’t had any idea what it could be.  Now…  She had her suspicions, but expected he would keep quiet without any sign from her.

“Tea, please,” she answered, settling down on the couch to begin removing her winter things.  It was far too warm in here to keep them on, regardless of how long this interview might be.  Did she want it to be brief?  She had hoped it would be, before.  But now… Maybe not.

Liho took the opportunity to jump out of her bag and begin exploring the place.  She smiled at the cat’s antics despite herself, and looked up to find James watching her.  He glanced away quickly.

“Do you always take a cat on missions?” he asked blandly.

She laughed.  “No, the little stowaway managed to sneak past me until I was already nearly here.  It was too late to send her home.”

“I hope she can play nice with others,” he said and she thought for a moment that the words might refer to more than just Liho, until a white cat hopped down from the bed and sauntered out to investigate the disturbance.

Raising an eyebrow, she watched the cats sniff at each other and glanced toward James, who was focused on making tea.  Had he had a pet before?  Nothing in his file, nothing that she recalled.  Though Liho wasn’t in her file, either.  A little companionship was pleasant.  Especially something as low-key as a cat after a long day of doing the lonely work of spycraft.

“I call her Liho,” she said abruptly.

The cats finished their inspections of each other, then separated to nonchalantly wander toward the other’s human.  She stretched out a hand to let the white cat sniff her, trying not to watch how James greeted Liho.  To see if that, too, might be something he knew about that she didn’t.

“I’ve been calling him Alpine,” he answered softly, kneeling to scratch Liho behind the ears.

She didn’t want to ask.  She didn’t want to know if he knew that Liho liked that in particular.  That it wasn’t just a cat thing.  She didn’t want to start that conversation.  “He’s very handsome,” she said instead, earning her a chuckle.

“Don’t tell him that, he’s already an arrogant bastard.”

“Cats always are, I think,” she offered, grinning as she ran her fingers through Alpine’s soft fur.

James stood to finish with the tea and Natasha watched the cats carefully trying to ignore each other.  She dragged her gaze back to James as he approached with two teacups in saucers and offered one to her before sitting down next to her.  There weren’t exactly other options but she was still surprised.  Or flustered, maybe – but that wasn’t possible.  Not for her.

Focusing on her tea, she cleared her throat.  “Thank you.”  It was heavenly, warmth spreading to her nose and fingers at last as she drank slowly.

Minutes ticked by without either of them speaking, lingering over their tea and listening to the growing storm outside while the cats jumped on the counter to look out the windows.  She held her mug with both hands, enjoying the warmth and being indecisive about what she wanted to happen before she left.  A gust of wind shook the cabin and she supposed she had better hurry.  “James – ” she begin when another gust blew one of the windows open.

He got to his feet hastily but was too late to prevent the two cats from taking advantage of the opportunity and jumping onto the sill and then outside.  “Liho!  Alpine!” he cried out, rushing to the window.  She set her teacup down to follow, and they were silent, watching the black cat disappear into the woods with the much-harder-to-spot white one.

“We have to go get them,” she said, anxiety swirling in her belly.  Did Liho know how to survive in the snow?  Could she hunt?  Would she return to the cabin if left to her own devices?  Or was she already lost?

James nodded tightly and both began to put on their winter clothes again.  “I’m sorry,” he said as he laced up his boots.  “I shouldn’t have… I had that open earlier, and…”

She stopped him, touching his face with her gloved hand.  The way he stared at her, frozen, was hard to bear but she didn’t know what to do about that.  Clearing her throat instead, she nodded.  “It’s alright.  I’m sure we’ll find them quickly, and can be back to work soon enough.”

He didn’t move until she released him, and then only nodded, looking away.  They walked in silence out into the snow.  It was unfortunate that there had not been fresh snow for a while and there were many tracks around the cabin.  She studied them and tried not to think of James’ too much – it seemed intimate, somehow, to know what he had been doing before she’d arrived.  There were also many prints from Alpine wandering around with James, and Liho’s prints were hard to differentiate.  Still, it did not take them long to find a trail of two sets of cat prints leaving the clearing.

James glanced at her when they found it and she nodded.  Then they set off.  The snow started after they had gone only a few hundred yards and she looked back at the cabin apprehensively.  “I have a compass,” he offered, understanding her concern.  “I won’t get us lost.”

She smiled at him.  “Of course you won’t.  If there’s one thing I would expect from someone called the Winter Soldier, it would be adeptness in winter conditions.”

His laugh sounded startled but his smile made her chest feel tight.  “I’ll do my best not to disappoint your expectations,” he promised.

Natasha wouldn’t have expected Liho to be quite so quick out here in such unfamiliar territory, but perhaps Alpine was proving to be a bad influence.  In any case, the cats continued to outpace them for some time.  Long enough that the new snow was starting to truly hide their tracks and she was beginning to grow worried again.

The flashlight James was carrying seemed to have little effect against the thick snowfall.  “Maybe we should turn back,” she suggested in a small voice, trying not to think of other snow storms she had experienced.  To her surprise, James took her hand and looked at her intently.

“We’ll find them,” he reassured her.  “They’re bound to be trying to find shelter by now.”

She nodded and was relieved when he did not let go as they continued on.  Finally – finally! – a soft meowing could be heard up ahead.  Natasha bolted toward it and suddenly became aware of the ground no longer feeling like it should.  A cry escaped her as she realized they must have reached some kind of sharp decline and she was about to go down it.

A hand grabbed her arm, maybe a little painfully, but then James pulled her back onto solid ground.  “Natalia,” he said, sounding relieved and she thought he might have called her name earlier, too, though she’d been distracted.  He released her and stepped back slowly, as though it hurt him to do so.

Maybe it was the relief, or something else, but she stepped forward and wrapped her arms tightly around him.  “Thank you,” she whispered against his chest, feeling his warmth even through his thick coat.

His breath stuttered once before he embraced her in return.  Meows interrupted them as the cats circled their feet, and Natasha laughed.

“Naughty kitties,” she told them firmly, then smiled up at James.  He loosened his grip but did not let go since she had not.  “I missed you,” she found herself saying, in much the same firm tone.

He blinked at her and then ran a hand down her back.  “I’ve missed you,” he whispered, almost reverently.

She pulled him insistently until he kissed her at last.  It was unhurried and gentle and she wanted to run her fingers through his hair.  Instead, she pulled back slightly, aware of his concerned expression.  “We should head back.  I’m sure Sharon will understand if I’m snowed in for a few days, don’t you think?”

A smile tugged at his lips.  “Yes, I think she should have expected as much when she sent you out here at this time of year.”  He bent to scoop up both cats and handed Liho to her.  She shifted the cat until she could also take his hand, and they began to walk back to the cabin.  And if it was a little slow going, pausing for kisses, the cats did not complain.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope it lived up to your prompt, bolshoiromanova!


End file.
